Nora Caplan-Bricker's essay 'Leaving Herland' was recently published in the latest issue of life and culture magazine, The Point, accompanied by images of Maria's collages.
Caplan-Bricker's essay describes the feminist utopia of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1915 novel Herland as "a world without men [in] a valley cupped by high mountains, accessible by only a single narrow path." What could be a better illustration of this fantastical realm than Maria's otherworldly artworks, basking in the glory of powerful femininity, and crafting dreamy, vertiginous landscapes from fragments of the natural world?
'Isabella' in The Point
Re-contextualising the novella in today's #MeToo climate, Caplan-Bricker's essay stages a brilliant interrogation of gender essentialism, exploring the meaning of utopia for women - and for men - in the twenty-first century.
'Madeleine Mountains' in The Point